502 Miscellaneous. 



enthusiastic applause by a crowded assembly of both ladies and gentlemen - 

 Mr Daniel Cooper, author of Flora Metropolitana, &c. the founder and curator 

 of the Society, read an interesting paper on the effects of light upon some of 

 our domestic plants, which excited great interest, more particularly with the la- 

 dies. Mr D. Cooper also related the results of some interesting experiments on 

 the imbibition of coloured fluids by the roots of plants, and produced many 

 interesting specimens of general interest to the vegetable physiologist. There 

 were several eminent metropolitan botanists present, among whom were Sir 

 W. Kelburn, Dr Maclntyre, Dr Lewis, Mr Charles Johnson, Mr D. Cooper, 

 &c. &c. The thanks of the Society having been expressed to Mr D. Cooper 

 for his interesting papers, the chairman then stated that the next meeting would 

 take place on Thursday, November 17th, at Adelphi Chambers — A. Heathcot. 



Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. — It may safely be said, that at no period in 

 the history of our country has a love for physical science in general been more 

 widely diffused than it is at present ; and certainly at no previous period was 

 it ever more zealously or successfully cultivated. In the department of Natural 

 History in particular, the truth of this statement must be obvious to every one 

 at all acquainted with the subject. The very circumstance, indeed, of the esta- 

 blishment, within a very limited number of years, of so many associations in all 

 parts of the island for the prosecution of this delightful and most rational study, 

 is of itself a sufficient proof of the interest and attention with which it is now 

 almost invariably regarded. And to these associations it doubtless is that we 

 are, in a very great measure at least, to ascribe the present flourishing state of 

 this science. The Berwickshire Naturalists' Club is one of these late associa- 

 tions, having been formed between five and six years ago ; and as it is now be- 

 ginning to be pretty extensively known, and is in its plan or constitution some- 

 what different from almost every society which has been instituted for a similar 

 purpose, a brief notice of its rise and progress may not be uninteresting. 



While other societies contented themselves almost entirely with reading and 

 hearing communications, and confined their meetings to one particular town or 

 city, it suggested itself to one or two Berwickshire naturalists who were in the 

 habit of- occasionally meeting each other in their rambles after nature's beauties, 

 that if a county or district association could be formed, and the attention of that 

 association could be given exclusively to the natural history of its own district, 

 meeting for that purpose periodically in different parts of the district, and de- 

 voting its attention as much to actual excursions or out-of-door work, as to the 

 reading and discussing of papers and communications, not only would the natu- 

 ral phenomena and productions of the district be more minutely and successful- 

 ly investigated, but, by the same means, a greater number of facts, and a greater 

 amount of information, would be added to the general stock of natural know- 

 ledge daily accumulating throughout the land. No sooner was the suggestion or 

 proposal communicated to other companions in the same pursuits, than it was at 

 once and cordially approved of ; and the result accordingly was the formation of 

 a district society under the title of the Berwickshire Naturalist's Club, which held 

 its first meeting in the neighbourhood of Cockburnspath, September 22d 1881. 

 Though at the first meeting only nine gentlemen were present, yet it is gratifying 

 to be able to add, that the number of members now amounts to forty ; and it is 

 equally pleasant to be able to state, that the same harmony of feeling, the same 



